Andrew's Working Stories, number 6

This week's edition of The Times' Bricks & Mortar property supplement features my pictures on the cover story. Here's how that sort of thing happens.

The story was about the renovation of a terrible-condition one-bedroom flat in Hove, which is now a stylish and beautifully-refurbished weekend bolt-hole by the coast.

The brief asked for "bright, engaging pictures of the couple in their beautiful flat. Can we also have exterior and interior shots of the flat without the couple so that we have a range of portrait and landscape shots. Bear in mind space for headline and coverlines."

I often like to telephone the people involved the day before. Its good to introduce yourself beforehand and chat for a while. I also usually explain to people the difficulties that can be caused if they wear all-black or all-white. Basically, it doesn't reproduce very well in newspapers and some magazines.

Ricky, the chap in the picture sounded like a great guy on the phone but he laughed and told me that everything in partner Jemma's wardrobe is black. Oh dear.

The flat itself was very impressive and the couple were lovely. Jemma was indeed wearing an ankle-length black dress and black jacket but as I looked around, I realised that the whole flat was either black or white. Black floor with white walls in the living room and black walls with white fittings in the bathroom. Double oh dear.

For the shot of the couple in their bay window, I did a few test shots without them first. I didn't want the exterior to be too over-exposed, nor the floor too under-exposed. I positioned them so that their shape stood out against the background and, it's a small thing this but really important, I asked Jemma to put the weight on her right side and show her left foot. Why? Well, the only bit of colour she was wearing was her purple shoes. If I could see that shoe it would separate her from the black floor.

The bathroom shot was tough too, as it's a small room. I used a 12mm lens and took four vertical shots which I stitched together in Photoshop to give a fish-eye effect. I lit it with a diffused, bounced flash. With that whole black-and-white thing going on, I really had no choice. Still, this had the fortunate side-effect of lighting the ceiling which, in turn, showed the shape of the mirror. Result!

The cover? Well, the flat in question is the one directly underneath the letter 'M' of Mortar. It's at a jaunty angle to disguise the scaffolding covering the building next door. The couple are lit by a fill-flash to show a bit of detail in the clothing and reduce shadows in the faces.

The paper used a total of three shots (plus one collect and an alternate verion of the cover shot for the website). I had submitted fifty pictures which might seem a lot, but have a look at that brief again and you'll see why.